Graig Du Theatre Players
Information
The players are in the process of being formed. I will post further updates in the next few days. My intention is to form a community theatre group, with four probable performances a year, to encompass the work of playwrights in the Rhondda as a beginning. Original work will be encouraged. I would like to hear from any members, when I give out further information, if they would be willing to partake in the first staging. This will include actors, actresses, directors,who would be interested in supporting the idea to get valuable experience at the start of their careers. It would be a learning curve for me. I intend staging my play" Sorrow for my Sons" to publicize the group within the next few months. The full version of this play "Painting the Darkness" is to have a performance with the Fluellen Theatre in 2017. The play tells of the mysterious death of William Dillwyn Llewelyn, the eldest son of Sir John Dillwyn Llewelyn, who was found shot dead in the woods of the Penllergare estate on the afternoon of his engagement to Lord Dynevor's daughter in August 1893. The play explores the background to events, the inquest held the following day into his death, and William's friendship with J.Arthur Gibbs, the author of "A Cotswolds Village". I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the late June Lewis-Jones of Fairford, Glos, who helped me considerably with the three-act version of events. After answering my advertisement in her local newspaper, she was intrigued by my discoveries and, as she held Gibbs's diaries in her possession; she was also an author in her own right, she said she would aid me in any way as long as it did not jeopardize her work. June said that I had seen something in the unfolding events that no-one had realized before. Gibbs's strange requiem poem to his dead friend is well worth reading, as is his version, which I believe to be truthful, of the events that took place at Penllergare on the fateful day.
Location: Porth, Rhondda
Members: 10
Latest Activity: Dec 11, 2018
Discussion Forum
Street Singers of the Valleys. Gwillym Pen Pwyll.
The one regret my father had while growing up in Dinas was that he did not pay much attention to the stories that were being told. The stories he did tell me were fascinating to the say the least,…Continue
Tags: Du, Theatre, Players, Graig, Pwyll
Started by Glyndwr Edwards Nov 21, 2015.
Unknown Stories from the Rhondda.
Ebenezer Chapel, pictured above before its demolition in the 1960s, was one of the…Continue
Started by Glyndwr Edwards Nov 17, 2015.
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Comment by Josh Edwards on November 5, 2016 at 11:03
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I will make further changes. By the way, ideas are not set in stone.
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Comment by Glyndwr Edwards on November 3, 2016 at 9:50
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The latest backdrops I have seen are too stark, Josh. They convey little meaning, except that the actors will become part of a plain background. There has to be some indication of what is about to occur. The revolving page, an indication of passing time, is worthwhile and can be used. Boredom cannnot be easily depicted by just giving morose gestures. The Lynmouth drawings you did will not be bettered and, as I told you, a free adaption of Lovecraft improves on the original.
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I am pleased you liked the idea of the individual testimonies of local people. The format is changeable. What cannot be denied is the raw power of the recollections and the anger that was never spoken of at the time.
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I have read "The Lost Voices of the Rhondda". The recollections are truthful, not forced. What,eventually, will cause a problem are the references to past events that may be too obscure for some. The collected reminiscences, though, do offer a view of seventy years or more ago that are not mentioned in the history books. The disturbing story is the mention of the mother bleeding to death at home during chilbirth because she could not be moved to hospital.The other was the mention of the regiment that marched down the valley during the Second World War and died at the hands of the Japanese.
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Apologies for not making it to the reading.
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I forgot to include this story that Jacqui wrote over a month ago. Short and to the point. All she needed was a bit of encouragement.
When a day begins unfavourably,it is sometimes wise to leave questions unanswered. This thought did not occur to Mr. Cafferty. He was well-thought-of and respected in the neighbourhood. Walking along the street on which he owned most of the shops, people casually ignored him, carrying on with their mundane conversations, and leading their humdrum pathetic existences. They did not notice the well-dressed gentleman who watched them with curiosity as he doffed his hat to a former female employee. "This is most peculiar", thought Mr. Cafferty."May did not acknowledge me." He would be late home if he dawdled a minute longer. There was a dinner party to be held at his house this evening and he would be selected as the prospective candidate for the vacant parliamentary seat of Kelmsley for the Liberal Party.
Still people ignored him as he wondered what had attracted the growing crowd of onlookers on the corner of Baxter Street. Cafferty hesitated as he approached, hearing a woman say with mournfulness, "This is going to be a terrible shock for his poor wife. He was respected, but he had a temper if you riled him, believe me ."
Other people said similar things, quite stunned by what had occurred. Cafferty finally saw what they stared at. A man was slumped against the wheel of the Morgan, his face hidden by the newspaper. The ambulance man, along with his companion, gently turned him over.
"Heart attack," the elder ambulanceman said. "He would not have felt anything. Jack, you will have to tell the people to move away so we can put him on the stretcher and get him in the ambulance"
Cafferty was doubly confused because he did not feel dead as he saw his body being reverently covered with a blanket and put into the back of the ambulance.
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I will send you another good story I heard last week about the lost village of Porth y Nant on the Llyn Peninsular. It seems a curse was placed on the village in the Dark Ages by a group monks that destroyed their way of life.
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I have received the drafts of the rewritten scenes and they are good. The aim has been achieved that it is up to the cast to project the intention of the writer, not vice versa. Eventually, it is the audience that finally decides whether a play is successful or not.
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I agree with you. "Roman Remains", I believe, is one of Blackwood's best short stories. Here is something that is short and to the point.
I find it difficult to sleep at night. I do not know what is happening to me. Jane, my wife, had taken our three-month-old daughter, Louise, to her parents' house for the weekend. I was home alone. I loved Louise's giggling and getting to know her. She is fascinating because she is yet to understand the world. Her cot is now empty. For the past two nights, I have heard a baby laughing in the bedroom. I am afraid.
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I have been reading through Algernon Blackwood's John Silence stories. They were good. Two others of note are Barbara of the House of Grebe by Thomas Hardy and Robert Holdstock's The Quiet Girl. It is writing in an original style, not slavishly following established authors, that is needed in submissions so far. There are many good plots that need less dialogue and direction.
Pages (108)
- Brook Cottage, Dinas.
- The Dinas Pals'1914.
- Death of Arthur Rees, Appletree, Dinas. 1908.
- Boot Inn, Dinas.
- Dinas Road before the clearance.
- The Prince of Orange pub, Dinas Road
- The Last houses to be demolished in Dinas.
- Inkerman Street, Dinas. "Concretes"
- Bethania Chapel, Dinas Road.
- Gwillym Pen Pwyll's"Ragamuffin Tales"
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